Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Can a doctor disclose the medical condition of the patient?

 The conclusive summary of the Principle of "duty of care", as applicable to persons in medical profession, includes the duty to maintain confidentiality.

·         From ancient age in India the medical ethics has viewed the duty of confidentiality as a relatively non-negotiable tenet of medical practice.

·         The Hippocratic Oath express about patient confidentiality as Whatever, in connection with my professional service, or not in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret.

·         Patient Confidentiality is mandated in America by  laws  known as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, specifically the Privacy Rule, and various state laws, some more rigorous than HIPAA. However, numerous exceptions to the rules have been carved out over the years in view of medico-legal cases.

·         Many American states require physicians to report gunshot wounds to the police and impaired drivers to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

·         Confidentiality is also challenged in cases involving the diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease in a patient who refuses to reveal the diagnosis to a spouse, and in the termination of a pregnancy in an underage patient, without the knowledge of the patient's parents.

·         In India a law like HIPAA is required or should be incorporated in code of medical ethics by MCI

((Dr Sudhir Gupta)